into
into Lexical Profile
into Game Scores & Validity
• preposition
Expressing movement or action with the result that someone or something becomes enclosed or surrounded by something else.
"She walked quietly into the library and found an empty desk near the window."
Expressing a change of state, condition, form, or appearance.
"Over several weeks, the caterpillar transformed into a monarch butterfly."
Expressing movement or direction toward a point of contact or collision with something.
"The shopping cart rolled across the parking lot and bumped into a lamppost."
Expressing division in mathematics, or separation into smaller parts or groups.
"The instructor divided the students into four study groups for the laboratory project."
(informal) Taking a lively and active interest in a particular subject, hobby, or activity.
"He has really been into classical guitar music since taking a course last semester."
Word Nuance & Usage
Do not confuse the single word 'into' (which indicates movement toward the inside or a change of state, as in 'she walked into the room') with the two-word sequence 'in to', where 'in' functions as an adverb or part of a phrasal verb followed by the preposition or infinitive marker 'to' (as in 'he turned his paper in to the teacher' or 'we stopped in to say hello').
• Rhymes for into
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in Old English as a compound of the preposition 'in' and the preposition 'to', originally written as two separate words before merging in Middle English to express motion directed toward the interior of a place.